A new suitor for Washington state?

Pitching woo: With Boeing noncommittal as to whether it will build new versions of the 777 and 787 in Everett, its rival, Airbus, wants Washington state to know its looking for space for new engineering centers. “If you want to have access to the talent that developed over the last 100 years of aviation, Washington is very fertile ground,” said an Airbus official at the Paris Air Show.

Flatterer. I bet you say that to all the states with huge aerospace industry tax breaks.

Wasting no time, Boeing immediately sent out a repair kit to airlines in case the problem occurs on other Dreamliners: black electrician’s tape that can placed over the low-oil light.

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Careful, careful: The state Department of Transportation has recorded a long history of hard knocks absorbed by the I-5 bridge over the Skagit River, which collapsed after being struck by a truck’s oversized load. But it hasn’t used that information to prevent truckers from hitting a bridge that the state considers “fracture critical.”

Meanwhile, Transportation officials announced that the permanent bridge will be built from Jenga blocks, and truckers will be invited to knock a block out as they pass and see if they can keep the span from collapsing.